By Alfredo Echenique
28 Sep 2023, 09:08 AM EDT
This Thursday it was announced that Judge Joaquín Aguirre, head of the Investigative Court number 1 of Barcelona, charged FC Barcelona with the crime of bribery in the Negreira Case. And an investigation begins against José Negreira, former vice president of the Spanish League Referees Committee, and Josep María Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, former presidents of FC Barcelona during that period.
“By logical deduction the payments made by FC Barcelona satisfied the interests of the club in view of their duration and the annual increase,” reads the judge’s report that was published by the AS Diary.
Furthermore, it specifies that “the crime of bribery has been consummated once the payment has been made, whether or not the systemic corruption of Spanish arbitration due to such payments is demonstrated.”
On the other hand, the crime of bribery is added to those of corruption between individuals in the sports field, unfair administration, falsification of commercial documents and money laundering that until now were attributed to those investigated.
The penalties for the crime of corruption in sports range from four months to three years. While for bribery in the Negreira Case it extends from three to six years and could be tried by a popular jury.
For now, the Spanish justice system will continue investigating the Negreira Case, in which Barça would have paid nearly $8 million dollars to José Negreira, vice president of the Referees Committee at that time, for arbitration advice. But that means match-fixing.
Xavi, coach of FC Barcelona, spoke about it
Given this new information, it was inevitable that the FC Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernández, was not consulted about it at a press conference. The strategist was blunt and repetitive in his response to this situation.
“Next week there will be another news from Negreira, and within fifteen days another, and within a month and a half there will be another. You already know my opinion of the Negreira case, if you look through the newspaper library, which you like, you will see it,” Xavi commented at a press conference prior to the match against Sevilla this Friday.
“I have never had the feeling that the referees have helped Barça, never,” was Xavi’s opinion at that time about the Negreira Case. Regarding payments to the former referee “I do not make reflections of this type. I have enough work with what the team needs, day to day,” said the coach.
Keep reading:
· President of LaLiga acknowledged that he would not have hesitated to be relegated to FC Barcelona “if the judge says so”
· The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office refuses to investigate Joan Laporta in the Negreira case due to prescription
· FC Barcelona denies alleged fine from the Spanish Treasury for irregularities in its payment statements